Top serving, retired officials appear before Public Finance Committee

• CBSL Governor says officials duty bound to give correct advice to Politicians 
• Says Politicians alone cannot be blamed for present crises
• Former Treasury Sec. Atygalle blames pandemic and related policy decisions for foreign reserve slump
• Says he did not engage in politics
• Committee members says Cabinet should have been better briefed on tax policies

Top serving and retired officials including the former Secretary to the President P.B. Jayasundera, former Central Bank Governors W.D. Lakshman and Ajith Nivard Cabraal and current Governor Nandalala Weerasinghe were among those who appeared before the Committee on Public Finance to answer queries on policy decisions taken in the past two and half years that have resulted in the current economic crises in the country.

The situation got a little tense after Governor Weerasinghe during his submission to the Committee said that the blundering on the economy was due to the wrong advice given by officials and said it is important for the officialdom to desist from engaging in politics.

“Responsible Government officials should refrain from engaging in politics and that the difference between a Politician and an official should be properly recognised. The duty and responsibility of an official is to inform the Politicians when they are not correct. Politicians alone are not responsible for the consequences of such decisions,” Weerasinghe said.

Former Secretary to the Ministry of Finance R. Attygalle however said he had not engaged in politics and said it was the pandemic situation including the suspension of vehicle imports other than the change in the Government’s tax policies, led to the country’s economic collapse.

“It is unreasonable to claim that the country lost nearly Rs. 500 billion due to the change in tax policies of the new Government, as this was due to the loss caused by the import restrictions imposed, including the suspension of the import of vehicles, and the economic contraction caused by the Covid situation,” Attygalle said.

He said the decisions regarding tax policies were taken in keeping with the first Cabinet Paper presented by the former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on 4 December 2019.

However, members of the Committee chaired by MP Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that when a Cabinet paper is presented, it should be accompanied by a background note and a report on the subject matter concerned and that the officials in charge of the subject should take responsibility for it.

Though, there were some unavoidable circumstances, which arose at the time, decisions should have been taken after a proper study by the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, the Committee members said.

The Chairman of the Committee emphasised that the relationship between the officials of the Central Bank and the Parliament should be enhanced, and a proper communication process should be established when making important decisions pertaining to the country.

The officials were asked to be present for another meeting on 17 June.

Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, MPs Nalaka Godahewa, M.A. Sumanthiran, Mujibur Rahman, Suren Raghavan, Gamini Waleboda, Kanchana Wijesekera, Anupa Pasqual, Vijitha Herath, Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon, Indika Anuruddha , Isuru Dodanga, Ranjith Bandara, Nalin Fernando and other officials were present at the Committee meeting.